Easter 2016

 

Easter weekend was certainly a busy one. We spent Saturday with my family coloring and hunting eggs, playing games and enjoying a small bit of nice weather.

Sam did a great job at dying his dozen eggs. 

He even dyed his hand green. :)

Most of the grandkids and their fake mustaches. 

Sunday after church we headed out to Travis' dad's for an Easter dinner.

Lisa planned some fun activities, including painting with eggs. Which turned out to be quite messy.

I got to spend Easter Sunday with the primary kids at church. I love hearing them sing. 

And for Family Home Evening we watched some videos on the Mormon channel and I loved this one.

I'm so thankful for our Savior, the life He led and for the opportunities He has given to us. Because of Him I know that I can have peace in times of trial. The other day I was up late at night with the baby and just felt so overwhelmed by the responsibility of 2 children (I don't know how people have more) and being sleep deprived and keeping a house somewhat clean among other things; as I sat there thinking about this, rocking my crying child, I began to cry. All of a sudden I had a great sense of peace overcome me as I realized that my Father in Heaven was there comforting me as well, and there is nothing that we are experiencing that our Savior has not overcome and does not understand.

My little boys are growing up so fast!

Sam is even drinking out of real cups and it's mostly adorable.

One month old

This little guy is already one month old! It's amazing how time works. It's been the longest, yet shortest month of my life I feel like. Tyler has been such a good baby. Sam has adjusted and still loves to help out for the most part. 

When Sam was born, it was an adjustment of course, but it was not an adjustment like this has been. At least for me, 2 kids has been more of a struggle than just one. Newborns sleep a lot, so when that's all I had, I stil had time to do everything. Toddlers (at least mine) don't sleep a lot during the day and need, and deserve, attention. Just today I was giving the kitchen a good cleaning--I sat down for a minute to help Tyler calm down and Sam brought me a book. I started to protest because I wanted to get the kitchen cleaned up, but then I realized that reading to Sam was more important and the kitchen would be there when we finished reading this book 7 and a half times.

I'm so thankful to be the mother of these 2 boys though, and for their amazing dad who I would be lost without. Now here's some cute photos of cute kids.

My awesome friend Rachel came and took a few quick photos for us this week.

Also, here's a random video of Sam being a good helper. I laugh every time.

Baby Tyler

Last Wednesday I had my 39 week appointment with my Doctor. The week before I still had basically zero progress towards labor and he'd asked if I wanted to schedule a c section. Travis and I knew that a c section was very possible this pregnancy since Sam came that way and I couldn't be induced, but we were really hoping for a vbac. I told the doctor we'd wait another week to decide.

I was rather nervous going to this appointment. I had tried to not get my hopes up just in case nothing had happened, but the doctor was extremely positive and thought we should just wait.

Later that afternoon I started having contractions. Travis and I were just so hopeful that we wouldn't need a c section that we decided to go out to eat to celebrate. Let me tell you something, it's not the easiest thing in the world to act normal out in public when you're having slightly painful contractions.

I had no idea what labor would feel like. And people always say "you'll know when you're in labor." I think this is kind of a lie. I didn't get any sleep that night because of contractions. Around 1 or 2 in the morning they were so painful I was in tears and I still wasn't positive I was in labor. Travis was timing them and they were close together but not the most consistent. Finally, we decided we should just go to the hospital. We called Travis' brother and his wife at 3 in the morning and they graciously came quickly so that Sam wouldn't be left alone.

I was so afraid of being sent back home. I hear those stories all the time. "We thought we were in labor but the nurses told us to go home and wait longer." That just didn't sound fun. But I had a contraction right when we got there and they were convinced it was the real deal. I was so relieved.

I won't go into all the details of the rest of the morning's events. But I will say that getting an epidural was just plain awful. They told me it usually goes much smoother than mine did. But I had to get stabbed several times (I was in tears at this point because of the pain) and then it only numbed my right side, so I could still feel every single contraction on the left. I was nearly convinced that I would rather just have the pain on half of my body than try to get the epidural fixed, but Travis and the nurses convinced me otherwise.

Once the epidural was working correctly life was a breeze! I could've stayed in labor all day long!

It being my first time in labor I thought I'd be there at least all day. But once the doctor broke my water things moved fairly quickly. I also thought I'd have to push for 3 hours. Nope, just under 30 minutes. The whole baby popped out in one push, shoulders and all. Travis said the doctor wasn't expecting it but thankfully she caught him.

After the epidural wore off and I tried to get out of bed for the first time I decided a c section would have been the better option. I don't recall feeling such horrid pain. Once I was on meds life started to look a little more hopeful. Sleep helped with that as well. Travis was so helpful during the entire process and I'm glad to have him by my side always.

Regardless of the pain and sleeplessness and being overwhelmed we are so happy to have little Tyler here and so thankful that he is healthy and that we had a smooth delivery.

Now here's some photos from the past 6 days. (I can't believe it's already been that long.)

When Sam came in to meet Tyler, he said "take it back."

He has warmed up to him a bit more at home and will give him kisses as long as it's his decision. And he loves to be a little helper.

Here we go on our new adventure.